Glycolic acid (also known as 2-hydroxyacetic acid or α-hydroxyacetic acid) can be used for many purposes including as a raw material to make ethylene glycol. Glycolic acid is prepared by the acid catalyzed reaction of carbon monoxide and formaldehyde in the presence of water, alcohols, and/or carboxylic acids. These processes often require high temperatures and pressures to proceed at practical rates. For example, glycolic acid typically is prepared by reacting formaldehyde with carbon monoxide and water in the presence of an acidic catalyst such as sulfuric acid under high temperature and pressure such as, for example, above 480 bar absolute (abbreviated herein as “bara”), and between 200 and 225° C. Alternatively, lower pressures may be employed in the presence of hydrogen fluoride as a catalyst and solvent. These processes, however, require expensive materials of construction and/or recovery and recycling schemes for hydrogen fluoride. Furthermore, readily available and less expensive formaldehyde starting material typically contains large concentrations of water that inhibit the rate of the carbonylation reaction and make purification of the glycolic acid product difficult. Separation of glycolic acid and the carboxylic acid is not feasible using distillation methods because the glycolic acid reacts with the carboxylic acid under typical process temperatures. Acetic acid is similar in its hydrophobicity to glycolic acid, making extraction methods unattractive for separating glycolic acid and acetic acid. Thus, there is a need for an economical process for making glycolic acid from an aqueous formaldehyde starting material that can be accomplished at moderate temperatures and pressures and allows for the ready separation of the glycolic acid from the crude hydrocarboxylation reactor product.